Adventures in Phoenix Food, 11/7/04

The Hubby-head and I awoke Sunday morning to an overcast, drizzly, mild day in Phoenix. I must say, I love days like this - we get far too few of them in the desert, and I relish each and every one of them. Unfortuately, this spelled doom for our church picnic and softball game, which has been rescheduled... on the bright side, the cancellation made it much easier to continue with our Sunday afternoon tradition of trying something new.

On Friday night, while waiting outside the local Hometown Buffet before our church women's meeting, I had spied a restaurant across the shopping plaza that I had not noticed before, so Hubby-head and I indulged our curiosity on Sunday and headed to Jan's European Restaurant and Bar.

The menu is primarily Russian and Polish, with a smattering of other Euro cuisine - borscht and samsa, gyros and goulash, stroganoff and pierogies, dolma and blintzes... it all looked interesting and pretty filling. After some deliberation, the Hubby-head and I settled on lamb samsa, Hungarian goulash, and meat pierogies.

Then the waiter informed us that they'd hosted a large party the night before, with a Polish theme, and they were out of many of the menu items, including everything we'd settled on. We asked for recommendations from what was left in the kitchen, and sat back to await the results.

The service was a bit on the slow side - and the place was nearly deserted when we arrived, only one table at the bar being occupied - but the food was definitely worth the wait.

We were given a basket of rolls and butter to begin the meal - they were nothing special, to be sure, but they did complement the meal nicely. While nibbling, we soaked in the atmosphere: rich, red walls with bright pumpkin-orange accents, and a large (kind of gaudy) mural leftover from the restaurant's previous incarnation, a Syrian restaurant called "Garden of Eden". The speakers oozed with Sinatra, which didn't quite (but might have if I'd let it) tempt me to drag the hubby out to the dance floor to pass the time.

When the food arrived, we were not disappointed. Hubby had settled on the Beef Stroganoff, which was simply spectacular. The sauce was rich and creamy, and had a depth of flavor that one doesn't often find in stroganoff. He told me it was like filet mignon as compared to the hamburger he'd had elsewhere. This wonderful sauce came with loads of mushrooms and thin, tender beef strips.

My main dish was the lamb chops - tender, juicy, well-seasoned, and served with a sort of cocktail sauce on the side. Succulent. According to the menu, we should have had our choice of side dishes, including mashed potatoes or rice, but we weren't asked our preference (which probably meant the kitchen had run out of most of the side dishes). What we both received was a generous helping of homemade herb and garlic french fries. I wouldn't have chosen them, but having had them, I heartily recommend them.

The meal was filling, and the dessert menu small and uninspiring, so we left it at that. And that was very satisfactory indeed.

On the patented Hubby-head scale of "this sucks" to "this rocks", I'm giving it a "Это трясет больше чем Sinatra." (Use the Babelfish translator on the left sidebar to translate Russian to English.)

Comments

[Mom]

I never cease to be amazed at what my daughter is eating! The little one that couldn't take the onions or celery or bell peppers because of the texture! This is truly enlightening!

[songstress7]

You know, I still don't like onions, celery and bell pepper. Unless they're well cooked, that is. And even then the flavor of celery kinda turns me off.

But I'm growing! I've even started using finely chopped or grated onion in my home-cooked recipes instead of using onion powder every time. And I'm better about tomatoes - if they're really ripe.

I'm still kind of picky, just more willing to give things a try.

[Hamish Liddell]

It's good to know that there are restaurants that have a variety of different regional foods, like Russian and Eastern European dishes, combined in one menu. It shows that restaurants can diversify by including different kinds of cuisines.